The Praetorian Guard, also known as the Imperial Praetorian Guard and later as the Elite Praetorian Guard, were elite crimson-armored soldiers of the Galactic Empire’s successor states, the Shadow Council and the First Order. An evolution of the Emperor’s Royal Guard, the Praetorian Guard wore crimson plastoid armor augmented with mag-coils that deflected blaster fire.

Under the First Order, the Praetorian Guard consisted of eight highly trained elite personal bodyguards to protect its Supreme Leader, Snoke. Clad in red armor and robes like the Imperial Royal Guards who protected Sheev Palpatine during his reign as Emperor and the Imperial Praetorian Guard who protected members of the Shadow Council after the fall of the Galactic Empire, they were trained to protect by meeting any threat with a ferocious response.